Software Engineering

9.1.2 
Change impact analysis
Every proposed change must be analyzed to determine if the change should be 
authorized and incorporated into the development framework. Prior to conducting 
a detailed impact assessment, the criticality of the proposed change must be estab-
lished. The critical nature of a proposed change should indicate the necessity of 
the change from the perspective of software operational suitability
 iden-
tifies common industry levels of criticality associated with standard configuration 
management engineering change proposal priority codes. These criticality levels 
are intended to establish the relative merits of a change proposal that may improve 
the return on investment to the enterprise. The decision to initiate a change impact 
assessment should be based on the perceived importance of the proposed change to 
stakeholders.
A change impact assessment is a technical cost-benefit analysis where cost 
addresses the work packages necessary to incorporate the change, while the benefits 
are those perceived advantages to stakeholders. Intangible benefits may be hard to 
quantify, but future business opportunities, technical experience, and proficiency 
gained by undertaking the new requirement and influence on the enterprise reputa-
tion all constitute perceived advantages. A change impact assessment involves the 
following steps:
1. 
Change network analysis
. Identification of the related technical tasks that will 
be affected by the requirement change. The related technical tasks affected 
by a change to an existing requirement can be identified relatively simply if 
the requirements traceability associations have been thoroughly identified 
and maintained. New requirements will need to establish these traceability 

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